Little Sicily

Little Sicily online: https://www.facebook.com/Little-Sicily-Pottsgrove-PA-393829480764617/

Had lunch today with Joel at a new pizza place, Little Sicily.  I think the location was a pizza place previously as well, but this was new to both of us and I think relatively new in town.  It is located right on the corner of Buchert and Keim.  I ride my bike past here all the time, maybe next time I'll stop in for a slice.

I called in advance to ask if it was alright if we brought some beers to enjoy with our lunch and there was no hesitation, BYOB welcome. It looks like a typical pizza place.  You go to the counter to order or pick up your food, there are a few pizzas behind glass you can order by the slice and they have a bunch of cookies in plastic clam shell containers that I forgot to ask about.

We decided to order the Margherita pizza and an eggplant parm sandwich.  We sat down and poured a homebrew first.  For two craft beer drinkers there was some concern about what beer really goes well with pizza besides Bud.  I think a belgian/saison or light IPA work well.  Our food was delivered with plates and utensils to our table.

The pizza got pretty high marks from both of us.  The sauce was fresh tasting, not sweet or overly spiced.  There was fresh mozzarella as you would expect on a Margherita pizza and also pieces of fresh basil.  The crust was crisp, but maybe could have been a little less flat - maybe a little more rise?  The center of the pie, like the points of the slices, were pretty floppy and wet.  Overall the flavor and texture was pretty good.

 The eggplant parm sandwich was on a long roll that was toasted and perfectly crisp on the outside.  The eggplant itself was thin-sliced and fried.  It was topped with some melted cheese and finished with a little sauce.  When I squeezed the sandwich there was a little oil coming out of the eggplant and you could taste the frying oil, but it didn't drip so I don't want to say it was overly oily, that was just part of the flavor.  I thought the texture was perfect.  There wasn't too much cheese either which I think can be an issue for pizza place fare.

I definitely want to go back to try their plain pie - or get one delivered.  The service was friendly, the food was good and the place was clean and welcoming.  Now I have a new menu in my drawer for takeout!  Thanks to Joel for the company, the suggestion of a new place and for getting me back to reviewing local places.  It really makes eating out more interesting :)

Fujiyama Japanese Steakhouse

(menu)

For #5 on the tour I visited Fujiyama Japanese Steakhouse.  There are a few places in Pottstown where I consider myself a regular so I feel like I should disclose that Fujiyama is one of them.  Maybe that makes me biased, I'm not sure.  I do know that my visit and my account of it are probably colored by many past visits.

Fujiyama offers sushi and hibachi among other things.  They have a small downstairs bar, a sushi bar with several tables in the back, several hibachi tables on the first and second floor and a second floor bar that is larger, has more tables, a deck with tables and a stage for music.  I got to Fujiyama around 6:00pm on a Friday night and I sat at the upstairs bar.  The bar is new in the past year and the deck has a nice view where you can watch the sunset.

Dave is the bartender at the upstairs bar.  The bar is usually open Thursday, Friday and Saturday night.  Dave is very nice, but not who you would expect to see behind the bar at a sushi restaurant.  He will talk sports with anyone, especially local high school sports.  His local cable show on the subject makes him somewhat of a local celebrity.

I ordered a Pinot Grigio as usual.  Their wine selection is maybe sub par.  The wine isn't terrible, but don't go there looking for a selection.  They also do not carry any craft beer although I know there is an effort to change that.  They have Sapporo on tap and at least one other Japanese beer in bottles.  They do have a full liquor selection as well.

They have recently added a bar menu that has a different variety of selections from the regular menu. I ordered #4 on the Sushi Specials.  12 piece sashimi, miso soup and white rice.  I requested a substitution of the vegetables they serve with the hibachi dishes for the white rice, but I failed to notice if there was an upcharge for my change.  I will pay better attention next time.

These are photos of the same sashimi with the two sides I ordered.  The wait was a little long and the veg and sashimi came out without the soup.  Once I mentioned it they corrected the mistake quickly.

It's a pretty basic meal.  The sashimi at Fujiyama is always right on.  It's a typical selection of tuna, salmon, white tuna and striped bass.  I assume that these selections have the highest turnover vs other things on the a la carte sashimi menu since they are included in the specials.  Regardless, they have been fresh every time I've ordered them.  Good texture, nice and cold.  I think the striped bass sometime has connective tissue which makes it hard to bite apart, but I think that's the nature of the fish and not anything lacking in the knife skills.

The hibachi veg is one of my favorites.  There is something about the sauce they put on them that I love.  I guess nowadays we call it 'umami'.  I call it awesome and mouth-watering.  The vegetables were cooked perfectly as well.  Firm, a little crunchy.  I always think overcooked vegetables are a crime so this is one of my favorite sides - no doubt the vegetables were fresh.

I am not a connoisseur of miso soup, but this one is pretty good in my opinion.  Sweet, cloudy and a little grainy like you'd expect.  They add some small cubes of firm tofu and greens.  I believe the 'greens' in their soup is seaweed and it has a great, firm texture and a slightly bitter taste like you would get out of other dark green vegetables.

There was live music when I was in.  On that particular night it was Ryan Conroy, playing acoustic guitar and singing.  It was great dinner music for sitting at the bar and hanging out.  Not too loud or heavy.

Definitely check it out.  If you're into the live music you can find their schedule online or on Facebook.

The Brick House

Random Sunday night stop for food in Pottstown brought us to The Brick House with no cell phone to take pictures.  I will return someday and write another post with better supporting graphics, but here goes stop number 4 on the greatest food tour on earth.

I have to say I did not have high hopes.  From previous experience I think The Brick House is a place to go at night when you're already drunk and wherever you are is closing.  I love the fact that the building used to be a bank.  It reminds me of the Union National, now Univest building in my childhood hometown of Souderton.  Tall ceilings with big windows, marble and stone everywhere.  I remember the high heels of the bankers clacking on the floor and echoing throughout the bank when they had to cross the lobby.  That's the major issue I have with The Brick House, the echo.  During the day everything echoes and at night the sounds of the DJ are overwhelmingly muddled and loud.  They do however keep threatening to improve their craft beer list and the sign outside the door inviting us to check out their new beers was too much to resist.  That and Sly Fox was already closed for the night.

This was a new visit though and I was determined to have an open mind.  This time around I didn't notice the noise at all.  It was a little after 8pm and pretty empty.  We sat at the bar and I asked for a beer list.  I am sad to report that the list has not improved.  I'm not sure what they were getting at with the sign outside, but the beer selection was mediocre at best.  There was a Nitro Milk Stout on the bottle list which I assume was Left Hand Milk Stout, but they were out of that.  I ordered a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon and Steve decided to order a Victory Donnybrook Stout on nitro which they were nice enough to give us a sample of.

For dinner I ordered the Crusted Sirloin, which is an 8oz sirloin with blue cheese crumbles.  I was happy for the small steak portion because leftover steak is never as good as the original.  It comes with a salad and potato and veg.  There was a choice of salad, Caesar or garden. I went with the Caesar. They also give a choice of potato: baked potato, french fries, mashed potatoes or sweet potato fries.  I skipped the potato and went with a double order of veg.  Steve ordered the prime rib special and a baked potato and Caesar salad.

The salads came out and the dressing was drizzled on top instead of being tossed with the salad like I would want a Caesar salad to be.  Despite this, the salad was quite good. A regular Caesar with croutons.

Our steaks came out in a reasonable amount of time and they were actually well cooked.  Both steaks were medium rare as ordered.  I think getting the right temp on a steak is at least half the battle.  My steak was a little peppery, but maybe that's why they called it crusted.  It wasn't too much for me, but maybe for someone who is sensitive.

The baked potato was shared. Steve ate the inside and I ate the skin.  (Can you believe he doesn't eat the best part of the potato?)  The potato was cooked through and there was a little crispiness and salt on the skin.  Not a masterpiece, but a well cooked potato - passes my test.  The other side was the vegetable of the day so I assume it varies.  That Sunday it was squash.  I was happy that the squash seemed fresh and not frozen.  The pieces of squash were unevenly cooked though.  Some of the pieces were obviously from larger sections or from larger squash all together and some of those had seeds that were larger than I'd want to eat.  The smaller, more dense pieces were undercooked.  I applaud the use of fresh produce, but the knife skills and thought in preparation were lacking.  

Overall I would go back and order a steak.  If I was going to be there often I would try to influence the beer list.  Maybe on a slow Sunday after most of the dinner customers have gone the veg goes downhill.  I would definitely give them another chance and as far as I know it is also still an acceptable place to go late night after you're already drunk.

Brookside Family Restaurant

(menu)

The morning of the 4th of July I was looking forward to heading down to High Street, getting a coffee at Grumpy's and watching the parade.  I was up early, though, and I needed to eat breakfast soon. I called around to a couple places and found that Brookside Family Restaurant was one of the few places open.  So off we went to stop number three on the whirlwind tour of Pottstown food.

An initial confession: I'm not a great fan of the breakfast buffet, although it is always tempting.  I just can't avoid eating plates and plates full of breakfast meat when it is sitting out there in a giant vat calling my name.  So, as a rule, I avoid the buffet. There were a number of people appearing to enjoy it though, so Saturday and Sunday, go give it a shot.

Upon entering the restaurant we were greeted with a smile and seated immediately.  The decor is nothing special.  It's a typical modern day diner like O'Grady's or Denny's.

I ordered coffee and water to drink.  The coffee wasn't great, but drinkable.  Coming from me that doesn't mean much; when it comes to coffee, I'll drink just about anything that's dark and wet.

I ordered something not on the menu, a veggie omelet.  The waitress didn't hesitate and just asked if I wanted cheese.  None for me, thank you.  I asked for my homefries well done, no toast.  Steve, my most of the time partner in food adventures, ordered the special cheesesteak omelet with hashbrowns and wheat toast.

My homefries came out perfectly.  Nice and crispy, just how I like them.  The omelet was oddly light in color, but had peppers, tomatoes, onions and mushrooms.  The veggies were incorporated into the egg and not folded inside.  Not sure I'm partial to one way over the other, but I believe it;s worth mentioning.  The omelet was ok.  It didn't have a ton of flavor or character.  I got what I ordered.

Steve also got what he ordered although I don't think he completely realized what he was ordering. Have you ever seen an omelet with red sauce?  I've seen red sauce on a cheesesteak, the inspiration for this breakfast special, but never on an omelet.  My initial thought is that the waitress should have asked, "sauce, onions?"

It is what it is though.  Can't be afraid of trying something new.  I thought the omelet didn't taste half bad.  The sauce wasn't too sweet and the texture was a bit like eggplant parmesan.  I'd be tempted to order it next time.

Unfortunately the hashbrowns were almost raw except on the bottom which is apparently where they made contact with the grill.

I was only able to get a printed copy of the dinner menu, they didn't have the breakfast menu printed.  It was a very standard breakfast menu with all the usual suspects and they were able to accommodate me ordering something off-menu.  Don't forget the buffet either.  If you have some glutinous teenage boys to feed or a hangover you're trying to bury in breakfast meats, this is your place.  They have pie too!

Al-Haqq Halal Food & Meat Market

(menu)

Ḥalāl Arabic حلال ḥalāl , 'permissible') or hallal is any object or an action which is permissible to use or engage in, according to Islamic law. The term covers and designates not only food and drink but also all matters of daily life.

They stuck a menu in my door while I was on vacation so I decided to start my journey of Pottstown restaurants at Al-Haqq.  Ground Lamb @ $5.99/lb?  This looked like my kind of place.

So the front of the restaurant doesn't offer much besides the remains of whatever occupied this space before.  Al-Haqq has been open for a couple of months, but the old fluorescent, back lit signs are still hanging on the walls. They do offer a bright space and it's clean too. No tables or chairs though, unfortunately.   

Azka greeted us with a smile, but it seemed their options were more limited than their menu let on.  They only had one lamb curry which I ordered.  We also got chicken curry and 'individual shrimp', whatever that is...

Turns out, 'individual shrimp' is deep fried, butterflied shrimp.  Not bad, but nothing impressive and probably frozen. 

Each dish came with a small, iceberg salad.  The salad was a nice touch and helped breakup the heavy, fatty main dishes.  

The curries themselves were a little salty and not spicy like the curries I normally expect.  We'll have to find out if spicy is an option next time. The chicken was dark meat which I appreciate. The lamb was cooked well, falling off the bone, but there was a lot of fat.  That may have been because it was the last portion left, but it was easy enough to pick through.  They were both served over a rice pilaf type mixture with carrots and peas.  

Overall, this is good comfort food.  The service was quick and friendly and the restaurant was clean.  Although there were no tables, Azka gave us plasticware and napkins and we ate standing at the counter

Thanks for the hardy dinner!